Blook Moon over Toronto, 2026

Toronto awoke to a total lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026. This image was captured from Polson Pier at 6:06 am, two minutes after the start of totality, just as the sky gradually brightened from the morning twilight.

A total lunar eclipse is also called a “blood moon”. The eclipsed moon is not totally dark – sunlight can reach the moon via refraction by Earth’s atmosphere. The reddish colour of the moon is due to the blue part of sunlight being scattered by Earth’s atmosphere, leaving primarily red and orange light reaching the moon – the exact same reason why the sun is orange during sunset.